The Life Story of the Flash by Iris Allen By Mark Waid

A unique combination of comic-book illustration and prose, this super-hero biography follows the Flash from his humble childhood to his noble death, detailing his transformation from medical police scientist to one of the DC Universe's most dynamic heroes. 96 This is a cute idea to have a full bio for Barry Allen and his story written by Iris. It’s very chintzy and really highlights the absurdity of these characters, but it’s great for first time readers as a crash course on The Flash 96 I'd like to read this again, written and published about the Barry Allen Flash - in the voice of his (late) wife, Iris - when his character was still dead from the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Ink artist Tom Palmer has shared some of his original art on his Tumblr blog. Highly recommended. 96 This was basically written to catch people up to speed on Flash history before they read Mark Waid's main Flash run. Judged by that intention, it works very well. It is essentially a summary of the entirety of Barry Allen's career as the Flash, up to and including the events where the more well-known Wally West takes the mantle. Because of this, it's not really one story, but a cramming of multiple decades of goofy Silver Age bullshit into one book. Thankfully, the framing device provides cohesion, preventing it from becoming a cacophony of loosely assembled nonsense.

It's not going to change your life, but it's well done and a good prologue to Waid's Flash run for those whose pre-Crisis knowledge is lacking. The only thing I really disliked is that several random pages stop the comic format in favor of paragraphs of prose. I've never seen this done before but it was deeply offputting and lazy.

I actually recommend reading up to just before the chapters detailing Crisis, because it ends rather nicely there. You can then read Crisis on Infinite Earths itself, no summary required, for the full emotional impact. Then read Flash: Born to Run (the true start to Waid's run), then the rest of the Waid run (with a break in the middle for the short Morrison/Millar run, of course). Up to you! 96 4.5 stars. A fun, fast paced story of Barry Allen's complete life (not in continuity). Puts superheroes in real life - problems with marriages and love, regrets, issues of trust - emotionally charged at times. One as a Flash fan I'm glad I own and will be keeping to re-read. 96

This unique book is one of those graphic novel / novel hybrids that combines illustrations, comic sections, and text to tell the life story of the Flash. (The conceit of the whole thing is that Iris West, Flash's wife, is writing the book. Readers of the FLASH comic at the time also saw this book as a major plot point in several of the storylines in the series.) So, this book serves as a hint of things to come and a bit of a greatest hits of Barry Allen's time as The Flash. Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, who wrote a long, strong run on the Flash comic, do a nice job of revisiting the past and making the whole book entertaining. They capture Iris's voice well, and balance the goofy nature of the villains with the human story of Barry and Iris's romance. I'm not sure how well it would work for people that aren't familiar with The Flash and his mythology, but it worked quite well for this fan.
96 A Pretty good store in the Flash, entertaining for fans of him like me, and good for people who have never read about him to get to know his story better. 96 An interesting graphic novel / written memoir hybrid that, for the most part, works. 96 It's a clever idea to publish this as the book referenced to in many of Waid's Flash stories. Unfortunately, the combination of prose and traditional sequential art is bland. This is probably the only Flash story Mark Waid has written that I don't really care for. 96 This is my favorite Flash story. It posthumously tells his story from his wife’s perspective. Poignant story that will make you a fan, if you aren’t already. 96

A unique combination of comic-book illustration and prose, this super-hero biography follows the Flash from his humble childhood to his noble death, detailing his transformation from medical police scientist to one of the DC Universe's most dynamic heroes. The Life Story of the Flash by Iris Allen

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